another roadblock for susan rice. a fresh round of criticism for the embattled ambassador to the united nations. this time from two moderate republican senators, susan collins and bob corker. both considered integral to rice's chances of becoming secretary of state if, in fact, she is nominated by the president. senator collins was the more critical of the two. she took the ambassador to task for using intelligence talking points in the aftermath of the attack in benghazi. >> i still have many questions that remain unanswered. i continue to be troubled by the fact that the u.n. ambassador decided to play what was essentially a political role at the height of the contentious presidential election campaign by agreeing to go on the sunday

shows to present the administration's position. >> senator corker declined to give deep details of the meeting but instead delivered a hit directed at the whole of washington. >> the whole issue of benghazi has been to me a tawdry affair. everything about it. i have found no heroes here in washington. >> and for the second day in a row press secretary carny defended the president's ambassador to the u.n. >> my view on this is the same as it was yesterday which is that the focus on and in some cases the obsessive focus on ambassador rice's appearance on a series of sunday shows several months ago is misplaced and misguided. >> and joining me now from the white house is nbc news correspondent mike vicquera.

the president did not say if he's nominating her for secretary of state. what's the end game here? we know the investigation is ongoing bah what do the senators want specifically at this point from susan rice? >> reporter: well, you know, it's hard to tell what the president's intentions are with regard to any perspective nomination to replace hillary clinton as secretary of state. we haven't heard from him on since the spirited, forceful defense. the come after me defense of susan rice the week after the election. what the republicans want, well, many of them are very upset with the presentation, of course, that susan rice gave on the meet the press and the other sunday shows just six days after the september 11th attack on the american government facility in benghazi where she said that it was likely a spontaneous reaction to the anti-us lame video and references in classified events that said it was a terrorist act.

many republican senators want to say why she went forward with the response. even if it was redakted by the intelligence agencies and confuse agent that yesterday. why she went ahead and gave that version of events that they said she should have known was not true. you heard susan collins there. that perhaps is a big impediment to any nomination. not a red meat republican by any means saying she has serious reservations and didn't say she would block the nomination but wanted to hear more. here's more from jay carney just moments ago. >> the president has not made any personnel decisions that i can announce and he made very clear his views on this particular issue when he answered questions about it at his press conference. >> reporter: other than that, tamron, the president's day consumed with the fiscal cliff. the pr campaign he has now

trying to get past republican opposition to raising taxes on the wealthy, tamron. >> mike, thank you very much. moving along to the further conversation on susan rice, joining me now, joel reuben, mike smerkonish and erin mcpike. thank you all for joining me. you have people at this point wondering if this is all about the battle that some republicans see ahead for the nomination of secretary of state and it's no longer about the benghazi investigation. i ask this question based on remarks made by susan collins today, senator corker and senator john mccain all related to the secretary of state position. let me play all of these comments together and get your reaction. >> i would need to have additional information before i could support her nomination. >> i would just ask the president to step back for a moment and realize that all of

us here hold the secretary of state to a very different standard than most cabinet members. >> john kerry came been a whisper of being president of the united states. i think that works in his favor but i'd love to hear him make his case. i don't have anything in his background like this tragedy in benghazi that would make me really want to carefully examine the whole situation. >> michael, that was john mccain referring to john kerry in case he was -- in the event he was nominated as secretary of state and susan collins in addition to the comments we have played said she would support john kerry as secretary of state. how much is about that and not about benghazi? >> i don't know what it's about. i'm not aware of evidence this suggesting that ambassador rice manipulated any data for a political purpose. what i am aware of and this is

based on reporting of sources and "wall street street," is that the intelligence provided to the president as part of his pdb said what she repeated on national television and arguably it's the same intelligence that would have been provided to governor romney receiving intelligence briefings in the final stages of the campaign and perhaps i have believed that's why he stayed away from the issue in the final debate. so why aren't they saying, we need more information about the cia? we need to know where was the intelligence failure on the part of cia. that seems to me a very reasonable question as opposed to holding responsible she who went on and repeated what those talking points were saying. >> erin, let me bring you in on this. you heard michael, a laundry list of things they could be asking regarding the investigation but you have susan collins and john mccain willing to endorse john kerry. that may be their sincere and honest opinion but why not

answer i'm focused on benghazi and the investigation and not potential nominees for secretary of state, both eager to say they would support john kerry. why? >> well, look. republicans are still looking to punish the administration over benghazi. we know that. republicans think that president obama got a pass on benghazi during the election so there's some of that but one thing i would point out to you from senator collins' remarks is that she is still looking for answers from susan rice about a time in 1998 when she was in charge of the region and in the state department when our embassy in kenya was bombed so these senators are moving to a point of saying that susan rice may not be qualified to be secretary of state and i think that's an important thing to be looking at, going one step beyond. she's not qualified in their opinion. >> i get what you're saying there and if that's their opinion and they want to use, for example, as you used the example that susan collins did,

that would be the appropriate place perhaps the nomination process but everything we've been told, thus about benghazi, finding out why four souls to lost, to give their families answers. this is not about the secretary of state nomination. this is who changed talking points, so on and so forth, right? >> it may be. >> it may be. which is why some people are concerned. the mere fact we have to say it may be when it should be. >> sure. but the administration likely would not be putting susan rice through the wringer with these meetings if they weren't looking to nominate her for secretary of state. we know that she is president obama's top choice and so that's why she has to go through this. >> andrea mitchell said it's unclear and chris matthews said no one for sure knows whether it's john kerry or susan rice. you might be privy to more information but as it stands i've not heard anyone with absolute resolve confirm it's a likelihood but it could also be

john kerry. >> that's absolutely true. but we are still looking to this nomination process and republicans obviously are thinking about that, as well. senator corker's comments about how the secretary of state is a very important role, they don't want to see a political nomination. the administration knows that. they want their nominee to have the full confidence of the senate and that in part why ve has to go through the meetings right now. >> joel, then if this is the case and erin is correct, susan rice going through this for potential nomination, shouldn't there be other people going through quote/unquote this to get the resolve and the answers? you heard senator corker say this whole thing is tawdry, the whole of washington is tawdry as a result of this, no heros. she should not be the only one isolated. >> she should not be the only t isolated. susan rice went to the senate to

talk to senators, to express an interest in understanding what she was talking about on the "meet the press" and the shows and she and they came out and gave very negative explanation. it's personal. they're treading the line of hypocrisy and seen them vote for her to be confirmed as u.n. ambassador and previous posts and had no problem confirming kond lee za rice after she had called for an invasion of iraq based upon faulty intelligence. there was no pay back there. now all of a sudden they're concerned of what people say about sunday talk shows? it is getting a place where it's very unclear of what they're trying to obtain. >> joel, in fairness, they should, though, be concerned with people and what they say on sunday talk shows or wherever. still should be concerned of rice and powell that will live on in infamy and people still

suffer as we know from today. >> they should be concerned about that and they should bring that up and it's necessary to do so but what it shouldn't be done is in such a way of personalized to the point now where they're questioning her character, where they're calling out susan rice as someone they feel doesn't have what it takes to be an official even though they recently had approved her for being at the u.n. and to the other officials who did get through confirmation, they went through a process and it was public, it was open and transparent. and susan rice isn't getting that right now. >> so joel in "the new york times" maureen dowd wrote if rice can't soothe the egos of cranky gop pols, how could she negotiate with china? that's maureen dowd not a spokesperson for the republican party on any level. what do you make of that question if this is about putting susan rice in the hot

seat because she could be nominated for secretary of state? >> she's already negotiated with the chinese and russians at the u.n. with some of the toughest sanctions through the u.n. on iran and getting them to acquies to the support of a no-fly zone on libya. she's already passed that test. >> michael, again, this is all become so muddied. you have got the u.n. meetings tomorrow. susan rice will be there. our own andrea mitchell worried or wondered out loud about whether the role could be diminished as a result of what's going on in washington right now. that is a concern of hers and of course the administration's. but the reality is, are there so many layers of now is this really about benghazi, about stopping a president's nomination? i don't even know what people think anymore who are listening to this from home. >> i fault the white house to a certain extent not being aggressive.

make no mistake. there's a legitimate investigation in to the death of four americans but beyond that, i think there's a lot of stuff here of conspiracy and the administration should have learned in birtherism if they don't confront these sort of things and tell their story aggressively that begins on the fringes sometimes goes mainstream and i'm watching this unfold as the first issue post-re-election and saying why don't they get out in front of it? call a press conference and say, look. here's the timeline instead of allowing others to do their work and poorly. >> thank you very much, michael. pleasure having you with us. joel, thank you. erin, you will come back with us for the next panel discussion. they all. coming up, the president and mitt romney's face to face meeting since the election. the meeting place, have you heard? the white house. and it's going down tomorrow. plus -- >> if we can get a few house republicans to agree, as well, i'll sign this bill as soon as congress sends it my way. i have to repeat.

i have a pen. i'm ready to sign it. >> politico calls it the fiscal cliff roadshow. the president going to middle class americans about avoiding the cliff. 33 days and counting. and join our conversation on twitter. [ female announcer ] you can make macaroni & cheese without freshly-made pasta. you could also cut corners by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese. but then...it wouldn't be stouffer's mac & cheese. just one of over 70 satisfying recipes for one from stouffer's. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses.

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welcome back. in a couple of hours the president is expected to sit down once again with business leaders as part of what politico calls his outside in strategy when it comes to the fiscal cliff negotiations. instead of meeting with republicans behind closed doors

the president urging the public to apply pressure on the gop. earlier today, the president met with middle class americans at the white house and urged house republicans to extend tax cuts. democrats say would benefit 98% of americans and 97% of small businesses. >> today, i'm asking congress to listen to the people who sent us here to serve. i'm asking americans all across the country to make your voice heard. it's too important for washington to screw this up. >> and just a few hours ago we found out the president will be hosting mitt romney for lunch at the white house tomorrow. it will be their first face to face since the last presidential debate and since governor romney accused the president of essentially buying the election. meanwhile, speaker boehner trying to keep the party's message united with taxes and pushing back against statements of gop congressman cole for republicans to fall in line with the president.

>> i told tom earlier in our conference meeting that disagreed with him. you won't grow the economy if you raise tax rates on the top two rates. it will hurt small businesses, hurt our economy. >> so let's bring in the political panel on this topic for today. erin mcpike back with us and david goodfriend, democratic strategist and contributor. thank you for sticking around. let's bring in the element of tom cole, a republican of oklahoma. doesn't get more red than oklahoma. let's play what he said regarding support and passing the middle class tax cut. >> in my view, we all agree we won't raise taxes on people making less than $250,000. we should take them out of this discussion right now. >> what is the issue with that? >> well, what congressman cole has really shown is that there's an imminent amount of good logic and sense in preserving the

current tax rates for 98% of americans for a lot of reasons. one of which is the gdp dependent on consumer spending. 0% of the economy is consumer spending. if you take $2,000 on average out of pockets of consumers, it's going to hurt the economy so right away you have a low tax good economic rational behind it but there are politics here, too, of course, and that is the republican party just got she lacked in an election and learning that the only way to expand their popularity, expand their base is if they stop being perceived as the party of wealthy white people and start being perceived as more appeal and i think that congressman's statement goes to the fact that we need to separate the tax rates for the top 2% as an issue from the tax rates of everybody else. that's so-called decoupling is really important and it's something that i think the republican party increasingly sees as necessary for its own

image. >> erin, our first read team puts it this way. this is how they address it. house republicans right now don't have the upper hand in negotiations and going to have to grapple with raising rates at least in the short time and cole is actually giving them a way out of this box short term which is to do the decouple as we heard david refer to on rates and live to fight another day. why is it that more republicans at least at this point not vocalizing same things we have heard from cole, you think? >> republicans are angry with cole up here on capitol hill because the last piece, raising the rates on the last 2% is the last bargaining chip they have and i've talked to many republicans saying privately by the end of the negotiations they may very well have to give on that but they want democrats to come to the table with entitlement reform at least on medicare and they don't want to give up rates until they get that so we're going to see a lot

of hand wringing over this cole comment for a couple of days. >> david, there's also hand wringing over what senator dick durbin said in the speech at the center for american progress and we have this, dick durbin, not what he said but didn't say and preparled remarks he said progressives should be willing to talk about ways to ensure the long-term viability of the social security, medicare and medicaid but those conversations should not be a part of a plan to avert the fiscal cliff and prepared remarks. he didn't say that in the speech. you have a lot of republicans on the -- excuse me, democrats on the left greatly concerned about what will happen to medicare and quite honestly not ready to put that conversation on the table. >> well, i think that's correct. you're speaking about a certain percentage of democrats. i would include in that list bernie sander who is sent out an e-mail blast today saying medicare, medicare and social security should all be off the table. now, in reality, i think social

security really can be and should be off the table because it's not a contributor to the federal deficit. it's well funded for decades ahead but if you look at medicare, here's what the president has to say about that. the president says look at the budget i originally submitted to congress and you will see i have put in excruciating detail cuts to the medicare program that i think we can afford so the president has put that forward. there are those in his party to his left who would like to push back on that. but what we have missing from this discussion right now i think is that same level of specificity coming from the republican side on any of the cuts that they have talked about. i mean, that the nuts and bolts of a negotiation over budget deal so, yes, you have laid out this sort of landscape of the politics and where the cuts would come from and in particular the fact that the administration put forward medicare reforms but what we don't see from the other side is specificity on revenues. the republicans say, yes, we need more revenues but they're

not willing to exactly spell out what that means and that's missing from their side of the discussion. >> let's move to the hot topic of tomorrow. mitt romney visiting the white house as i've pointed out first face to face since the final debate. also since the remarks of governor romney revealing he believes the president won essentially because he gave out what he called gifts to portions of his base. david, to be a fly on the wall, what is the point, first of all, to have mitt romney there? i get it with senator mccain, a senator at the time. mitt romney doesn't hold a position and many turned against him. >> well, here's what i think this is about. the president believes in his heart and i can tell you this i think as a long-time supporter of his i believe this firmly. the president wants to get a deal done. he really does. he does not want to send the country over the fiscal cliff. >> he needs mitt romney to do that? >> he needs republicans to

cooperate with him, yes. and i think if mitt romney were to come forward and say, we need a deal, we shouldn't go over the cliff, should be give and take on both sides, that would have tremendous impact because, you know, close to 50% of the country voted for guy. he does represent a large swath of the american population that voted for him and he can come forward and say, let's put politics aside. rise above as my friends at cnbc say and get a deal done. >> erin, i think there are a lot of people that just gasped listening to david because the other side of that -- i'm going to be honest -- people believe that those who are republicans were not voting for mitt romney. they were voting against president obama. before that vote, we did not have the tape of mitt romney saying that many of the people who voted for the president just wanted gifts and that would apply to a large group of people right now worried about entitlement reform in addition to that, erin, we saw republicans turn on mitt romney in droves right after that comment.

so what influence does he have if he said, come on, can't we all get along, who would listen? >> no one really. mitt romney lost a lot of ka shay with the rest of the -- >> david -- >> that made me feel bad. >> checked by erin. that's a spanking right there on national tv. >> this meeting is just about making -- >> spectacular. >> just want to make nice after a very difficult election and these debates uncomfortable for a lot of viewers. they have just engaged in a long campaign. they want to make nice. >> should mitt romney bring a gift? >> that's a good question. maybe so. >> we'll see. maybe we'll pose it as a gut check tomorrow. thank you, guys, for your time. david, you can call erin and take up your issue with her. thank you. last week bp charged in the gulf oil spill and the deaths of 11 workers. well, today, bp faces tough new sanctions of the obama administration. details for you next. plus, how president obama's

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welcome back. the obama administration slapped bp with tough new sanctions for causing the worst oil disaster in u.s. history. the environmental protection managers suspended the oil giant from securing any new government contracts for an unspecified amount of time. bp will not be able to lease new areas of exploration from the u.s. government, including territories in the gulf of mexico. 11 people died and almost 5 million barrels of oil spilled when the deepwater whorizon exploded in 2010. coming up, how republicans and democrats are preparing their parties for what a final deal on the fiscal cliff could really look like. nbc's senior political editor

mark murray will join us with the first read. just today, lottery officials increase the size of tonight's record powerball jackpot. going to tell you how much it's worth now. updated just a short time ago. be sure to check out the "news nation" tumblr page. he claims he is not impressed with the lotto hype but did give money to the pool. that's a behind the scenes photo of the day. ♪

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as talks on the so-called fiscal cliff accelerate, our first read team notes they're basing the bases for what deal is made and include democratic senator durbin and republican congressman cole. over the last few days both indicated they're willing to compromise and cross the aisle to strike a deal.

joining me now, nbc news senior political director mark murray. we have talked about the republican base perhaps learning lessons after the election, learning that it may not always be wise to sign a pledge if you don't want to be dedicated to it for 20 decades. but we have not talked a lot about the democratic base and folks on the left who may end up with a deal they don't like. >> you've seen some big hints and yesterday another one of senator dick durbin giving a speech at the liberal center for progress and prepared remarks saying there would probably need, progressives looking at long-term entitlement reform, maybe not a quick patch for the fiscal cliff immediately but sm something in a long-term deal and president obama made it clear he wants reform. the devil's in the details and republicans want some major restructuring. democrats really mostly want to deal with the margins but there does seem to be a sense that democrats are saying to their base, look, we might be able to

de-couple the bush tax cuts, have a victory and require us making a few sacrifices coming to some entitlement programs. >> we saw speaker boehner take exception to what congressman cole said regarding taxes. have we heard democrats take exception to senator durbin, the prepared remarks versus what he actually said and word that there could be a transformation of some sort to medicare? >> we heard from democrats and like the previous guests saying, look, we shouldn't look at social security. in fact, the white house is in agreement with that. they don't believe that social security is a driver of the deficit. on the other hand, you ended up seeing where -- how do you end up tweaking medicare? do you raise the eligibility age? new poll by "the washington post"/abc showed that two thirds of americans oppose raising the eligibility age for medicare and that could be something that could be discussed as would be, you know, maybe means testing and other things and again we don't know the details but what

the white house is wanting to say, look, we're open to some adjustments on entitlements where republicans want to hear what are the details? >> that's interesting, the new poll you brought up. most of the people in that poll not wanting to see the eligibility age change and in the same poll the majority wanted to see taxes increase for people who make over $250,000. a lot of times we saw the lawmakers use polls to their benefit and this is an interesting storyline from those, too. >> politically, right now, when you look broadly, measuring the public, it does seem to be easier to raise taxes on those who are making income over $250,000 than big changes to medicare like the age and why tom cole the republican ended up saying, look, maybe we need to cut the losses and not extend the bush tax cuts for the wealthy at least in the short term because we realize the tough political situation we're in. >> mark, thank you very much. see you tomorrow. thanks a lot. >> thank you, tamron.

the congressional hispanic caucus responded to a bill offered by republicans yesterday as an alternative to the dream act. now, the biggest difference the so-called achieve act of republicans does not provide a path to citizenship for young people brought to this country illegally. i89 also reduces the amount of visas available especially to people from third world countries. >> the problem with achieve sakt it does not achieve the dream of the young people who aspire to fully participate in american life. >> joining me now, sandra lily. we started talking about this on monday and it is interesting, already seeing congressional hispanic caucus forming around the idea this is no good. >> talk of an election year mandate. they were tarp like it's all or nothing for them and the proposals saying let's give some visas is not enough.

we want the whole thing and saying that the best way to get the country going, especially economically, is to get 11 million people out of a shadows and as full citizens and start the process. >> this is sponsored by john mccain, kay bailey hutchens of texas and senator kyl. here he is explaining the achieve act. >> what we're saying saying is if you want to go to school, whatever school to prepare you for a good job and a have a job and keep a job and don't get in to trouble in this country, you will be here for the rest of your life with a legal status and no path to citizenship is denied you under here. >> democratic congressman gutierrez of illinois said at least it's a move in the right direction by republicans. even though many feels it falls short of anything they want to see. >> absolutely. i mean, one of the reasons that today the democratic latino legislators put out a nine-point plan is to start a conversation. they don't want to have a bill

and denied. the best thing is to have two parties move together in the right direction an they're hopeful that immigration reform can happen but they're very clear and a lot of immigration advocates, not just latinos are clear that the best to move forward is the legalization process of 11 million undocumented illegal immigrants. >> opposed to piecemealing. >> that tried before. >> thank you very much. we'll continue to keep our audience up to date on that. coming up, egypt's president morsi not giving in despite another day of protests over the decree that giving him near absolute power. but first, a lot going on today and here's things to know. president obama's second inauguration will have an asterisk next to it. it will be the seventh time ever that the constitutionally mandated date for a president's swearing in, january 20th, has fallen on a sunday. so, following tradition, the inauguration will be moved to

monday, january 21st. house speaker boehner announced who will chair the 19 major house committees in the next congress and it turns out they have something in common besides party affiliation. they're all men, white men. but there are two committee charls that have not been filled yet so a woman could possibly end up in one of those seats. meantime, some republican house members will attend a special screening of "lincoln" happening tomorrow. house majority whip mccarthy rented a theater for the event. president obama hosted a screening at the white house. those are the things we thought you should know.

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supporting president morsi. they clashed with police again in the streets of cairo. the protests began last week after morsi issued a decree last thursday giving himself near absolute power. nbc's jim maceda joins us live from cairo and may be movement of new constitution? >> reporter: right. well, you have got this whole -- this is really basically a constitutional crisis from the beginning. you know, tamron pitting morsi against the judiciary so we're going to see it playing out in the courts and the streets but what happened today was that egypt's highest appeals court known as the court of casation said to suspend the work and effectively going on strike. but and it would stay on strike it's saying until morsi cancels his controversial decree giving as you say absolute power,

almost absolute power. now that court joined by a number of lower appeals courts today, as well. and the level of criticism from the judges, tamron, really unprecedented. they said that morsi's decree, quote, defies belief. many other judges and lawyers and journalists have now got on didn't bandwagon and striking. so far, morsi is defiant, refusing to rescind his decree and he has, however, managed or acknowledged some type of wriggle room for negotiation. still, while this battle plays out in the courts, the protesters behind me in tahrir square say they won't let up until morsi tears up the decree and now the opposition which as you know drew a crowd of 200,000 last night called for a very similar protest on friday while morsi's islamist backers are planning a massive show of support on saturday and now unless that changes, they say that's going to take place right

here behind me where those protesters are camped out so they could -- there could be some serious violence and confrontation come saturday. back to you, tamron. >> jim, also the equip shan economy took another big hit, as well, today. >> reporter: that's right. and the stark reality is that every day that the uncertainty and political turmoil and violence continues in this country, egypt loses more tourism, a bedrom for their economy. its stock market takes another plunge and today it lost on its stock market another 4.5%. and that's more billions of dollars in investment that egypt desperately needs. back to you. >> thank you very much for the latest out of cairo. tonight, far from that story, but one that people are still talking about, the second highest jackpot in lottery history. it is up for grabs. it is not just the lucky ticket holders who win big. we'll tell you who else will be cashing in on the now $550

million prize and you can join the "news nation" on facebook. q?

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we invite you to join the news nation on twitter. well, the largest powerball jackpot ever up to $550 million. that number could get even bigger before tonight's drawing. people across the country are buying up tickets, more than $1 billion in tickets sold since the current jackpot started building. nbc is at a store in new york and it always seems that someone in a small town wins so you are

in new york city which means you are at a store where the winner will not be located. >> reporter: hopefully i'll break that streak. i bought several tickets here today. that would be a good thing, for sure. we have seen a steady stream of customers. at this location alone, they have sold several thousand dollars of tickets and seeing that across the country. about 550 million powerball tickets have been sold and that's why the number of the jackpot keeps growing and getting bigger. as people hear about the jackpot, they run out to get the tickets and that feeds the jackpot and the cycle builds on itself and every week that goes by without a winner it keeps growing. this pot started growing october 6th, more than seven weeks ago and every week without a winner is it's bigger and bigger. the odds of winning is 1 in 175 million and not likely that people who buy a ticket will win but everybody wants that chance at the dream. not just the winner that's going

to go home with something. the state gets a dollar for every ticket that's been sold. they can use it to fund lottery programs or other state programs. the federal government also gets a cut. they get 25% of the winnings for taxes and even vendors, the vendor like 7-eleven where we are today, they get a percentage of the prize money up to $100,000. people are hoping they get something from the growing jackpot and if no winner tonight at the drawing, it keeps going and it could get bigger. this is the biggest powerball jackpot ever. this is the second biggest lottery payout in u.s. history. earlier this year, a group of people won $656 million in a mega millions so a lot of people are -- dollar signs in the eyes with the big prizes and the pot we're seeing today is partially the result of changes powerball made this year. they doubled the ticket price to $2 and made the minimum jackpot a lot bigger and they also made changes to the way it's played

so the odds of winning are greater and people have a better chance and the money on the line is a heck lot bigger. >> heck, i think another word you were going to use and i'll go with that. >> reporter: i caught it. >> your mom is watching. hi, hazel. when's the maximum number of tickets? is there a limit? >> reporter: unlimited. people are just spending left and right. we spoke to a lottery expert this week and he said make a budget. figure out what you're willing to spend and spend that. because, of course, the more you buy and the more chance you have of winning. people are handing 20s and 10s and buying up a lot of tickets and there are office pools. i heard "news nation" had one. >> we can't afford one more soup on this ship. we would love to invite you but we need to win this money. we have big dreams for "news nation." it's very interesting. i love that they give you gambling budget tips. look at your budget and see how much to gamble. all right. thank you, mara. speaking to the winning "news nation." we won't be here tomorrow.

let's get the gut chuck. it is the last one. for a serious story, actually. four service women suing the military in hopes to end the ban of women in direct combat. they claim that the policy is discriminatory and been deployed to iraq and afghanistan and say most of the men they have served alongside did not care that they were women. >> the modern battlefield means that there's no front lines and no safe areas. every time a woman or any service member sets foot in to iraq or afghanistan, they are serving in a combat zone. the combat exclusion policy does not recognize this reality. >> it prevents women from competing for many positions no matter how qualified or capable they are. >> defense department would not comment. the lawsuit indicates secretary panetta is committed to examining the expansion of roles for women in the military.

so what does your gut tell you? should the ban be lifted? go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast that vote. an update to yesterday's gut check. actor an gus. the jones apologizing for slamming the tv show that gives him $250,000 an episode. he called it filth saying he has the highest regard and respect for all of his co-workers. that's kind of not what he said in the tape. but okay. we ask you, should he be fired for his original comments? 74% of you say, bye-bye. 26% of you, no, he should keep his job. that's it for "news nation." thank you for joining us. "the cycle" is up next. monthly plan premium... and select generic hypertension drugs available for only a penny... so you can focus on what really matters. call humana at 1-800-808-4003.

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we believe the more you know, the better you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our teams have the information you want when you need it. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. i'm steve kornacki. november 28th, 2012. a date america may remember as the series finale of "the cycle." yeah, w